'All the pressure and expectation is on Portadown' - Canning

With five games remaining before the league splits in two for the last quarter of the campaign the Mallards are back within touching distance of the top half, and victory over rivals Portadown, combined with favourable results from others, could pave the way for a return to the top half.

The Ports' last visit to Fermanagh during Christmas week ended with a 3-0 win for the Mallards, and with Tommy Canning’s side going on to take 10 points from a possible twelve in their last four Ferney Park games, the manager believes they can once again get the better of title-chasing Portadown, despite the visitor’s recent uplift in form.

“We are at home, and we know what our home record at Ferney is like,” said Canning. “Both clubs are in good form but in very different positions, and I think all the pressure and expectation is on Portadown. I don’t think they can afford to lose the game because they are already behind Dundela, and that could be a very big gap if they lose to us, so they have to deliver.

"We know how we were able to manage Portadown five or six weeks ago, but it is a very different Portadown team now and it is important we understand that. We are not facing the same team. They have brought good players in to add to their squad.”

Ballinamallard are boosted by a fully fit and available squad for the first time this season, giving Canning a selection headache ahead of the high-profile clash.

“We have nobody suspended or injured,” he revealed. “Aaron Smyton was the only person that was a doubt last weekend and he got some minutes for the reserves and got through it okay, so we have a full squad.

"That gave us some headaches last weekend and some boys had to get some time in the reserves, and we will have the same issue this weekend. We will have to leave players out of the 18 and out of the 11, which is good for us in some ways. We are fully fit and fully healthy and that leaves us with no excuses.”

Ballinamallard’s latest win saw them come from a goal behind at half-time to defeat Newington, and Canning believes his player’s response to falling behind in the game is yet another example of the character and quality of his side.

“We have done a lot of good work over the last number of weeks and answered a lot of questions about this group in terms of their capabilities and what they are prepared to do, and how they are prepared to get to places, but one of the boxes unticked until Saturday was can we come from behind away from home and win a game? 

"That has been answered now. It was refreshing to come from a goal down and take a victory which I thought was well deserved.”

The manager was delighted with the efforts of his players for much of the game and felt they could have won the game by more than a single goal.

“2-1 looks like a tight game but it wasn’t really,” he said. “I thought we were very good, and we could have won it more comfortably.

"There were a lot of positives in the first half and we were unfortunate to go in a goal down. In the first few minutes of the game we were sleepwalking and they had opportunities, but from minute five to minute 40 we were very good and created numerous chances.

"It was a real high-level game and I thought we were very good. At half-time, the players were a bit down on themselves, but bar the first and last five minutes we were very good, and we knew we would get more opportunities in the second half if we stuck at it and stayed in the game.

"We came out in the second half and I thought we were so good in possession of the ball. We were making great runs off the ball and making opportunities but we couldn’t apply the finish. Then Macca (McIlwaine) came on for Simon (Warrington) and within five minutes had made a big impact.”

The victory makes it just one defeat in the last six, but Saturday’s clash marks the start of a tough run of fixtures for the Mallards.

Their next four games see them play each of the top three as well as a local derby against Dergview.